Security personnel at Dubai international airport told Fouda on 28 June he was banned from leaving the country. In response to a summons, he reported to the state security department on 3 July accompanied by an Egyptian consular official, who left without him.

His relatives have not heard from him since then. Before going to the meeting, Fouda told colleagues he was worried about the outcome.

“We urge the UAE authorities to quickly explain why they arrested Fouda and why they are holding him incommunicado,” Reporters Without Borders said. “If no charges have been brought against him, he must be released unconditionally at once. We hold the state security department, the last place he was seen, responsible for what happens to him.”

After saying nothing for weeks in the hope that he was going to be freed, Fouda’s family have finally gone public about his detention. The responses have included the creation of a Facebook page calling for his release.

A senior editor with the MBC media group, Fouda works with various news media including Al-Arabiya and Al-Aswaq.net and keeps a blog on Egyptian politics.

Republished from HRW.org

Tanya Lokshina writes: “When I received an email late Thursday from one “Edward Snowden” I was naturally skeptical. The invitation, supposedly from one of the world’s most sought-after people, had a whiff of Cold War-era spy thriller to it. The note instructed me to go to the arrivals hall of Sheremetyevo Airport, where “someone from airport staff will be waiting there to receive you with a sign labeled ‘G9.’” What would you think?

Even as the media calls started flooding in, I was still thinking it might all be a hoax. While I juggled spooning mashed carrots into the mouth of my wailing child and talking to the BBC – journalists and babies are equally needy – I was still half thinking this wasn’t going to happen.

And then the phone rang.

It was airport security giving me further details and asking for my passport number. That was the moment it hit me: this was real, the world’s most wanted man wanted to meet me.

My phone was ringing nonstop and at some point I thought I’d miss the meeting altogether – the media calls were coming in so furiously it wasn’t allowing me time to get dressed and leave. But finally I managed to get my act together and made it to the airport express train just in time. While en route I received another phone call, but from a very different source: the United States embassy. Did I understand the position of the US? That Snowden was not a human rights defender but a law breaker who had to be held accountable? I said in response that the official position of Human Rights Watch on the case was in our statement published several weeks back. The US official said that the embassy was familiar with the statement but they also wanted me to convey the official US position to Snowden. I was surprised at the request but in the end decided to mention this to Snowden. It seemed only fair to let him know about this call.

The scene at the airport was like nothing I have ever experienced. I am used to crowds, and I am used to journalists, but what I saw before me was madness: a tangle of shouting people, microphone assaults and countless cameras, national and international media alike. I feared I might be torn apart in the frenzy.

I pushed through to the staff entrance in Terminal F, and there was the man with the sign, “G9.” Just like they said. So, along with eight other people – including the Russian ombudsman, an MP, and representatives of other rights groups – I was put on a bus and driven to another entrance. We walked in and there he was: Mr. Snowden waiting for us along with someone from Wikileaks and a translator.

The first thing I thought was how young he looks – like a school kid.

I managed to snap two pictures and send them to colleagues at Human Rights Watch to be posted on Twitter before we were told no photos.

The meeting lasted one hour. He read the statement and then said he was ready to answer questions. He said he wanted us to petition the US and European states not to interfere with his movements. Under the circumstances, he said, he had no other options but to file a claim for asylum in Russia. He said his living conditions were nothing to complain about and he was in good health – but that he couldn’t stay at the Moscow airport indefinitely. And it seemed that the only way to have his security guaranteed in Russia was to ask for asylum. Hence, the second request: please ask the Kremlin to support his asylum claim. Though he wants to move on to Latin America, he emphasized repeatedly, and said that Russia was a temporary move.

Then we left the same way we came in, along corridors and once again through the incredible media circus. It’s midnight in Moscow now – and I still haven’t had my breakfast.”

According to Women’s Media Centre, there is a crisis of representation in the media. “We live in a racially and ethnically diverse nation that is 51% female, but the news media itself remains staggeringly limited to a single demographic,” they say, adding that “the media is the single most powerful tool at our disposal; it has the power to educate, effect social change, and determine the political policies and elections that shape our lives. Our work in diversifying the media landscape is critical to the health of our culture and democracy.”

Key statistics have as follows:

- By a nearly 3 to 1 margin, male front-page bylines at top newspapers outnumbered female bylines in coverage of the 2012 presidential election. Men were also far more likely to be quoted than women in newspapers, television and public radio.

- On Sunday TV talk shows, women comprised only 14 percent of those interviewed and 29 percent of roundtable guests.

- Talk radio and sports talk radio hosts are overwhelmingly male.

- As newspaper employment continues to tumble, so does the number of women in key jobs.

- Newer, online-only news sites have fallen into the same rut as legacy media. Male bylines outnumbered female bylines at four of six sites reviewed.

- The percentage of women who are television news directors edged up, reaching 30 percent for the first time. Overall employment of women in TV news remains flat.

- Obituaries about men far outnumber those of women in top national and regional newspapers.

- Women comprised just 9 percent of the directors of the top 250 domestic grossing films of 2012.

- Women comprised 39 percent of documentary directors whose work appeared at major festivals in 2011-12.

- Across all behind-the-camera positions, females were most likely to be producers. However, as the prestige of the producing post increased, the percentage of female participation decreased.

- Forty-seven percent of gamers are women, but 88 percent of video games developers are male.

“I call on the Syrian authorities to fully investigate the circumstances of their deaths,” the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, said in a news release, in which she also condemned the killings, adding that the five lost their lives while trying to inform the Syrian people of the tragic events taking place in their country.

The deaths in late May of Ammar Mohamed Zado, Ahmed Adnan Al-Ashlaq, Lawrence Fahmy Al-Naimi – all of whom worked for the Shaam News Network – and Bassel Al Shahade and Ahmed Al Assam, bring to 11 the number of citizen journalists killed in Syria since February.

They are among the more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, who have been killed in Syria since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 16 months ago.

“I also call on all parties involved in the present conflict to take all necessary steps to improve safety for all media workers in Syria, who are not only defending the right of the Syrian people to information and press freedom, but are also exercising their own right to freedom of expression, which is vital for all societies,” Ms. Bokova added.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a non-governmental organization, Ammar Mohamed Zado, Ahmed Adnan Al-Ashlaq and Lawrence Fahmy Al-Naimi were killed in the capital, Damascus, on 27 May, when the apartment they were staying in was shelled.

The organization added that Bassel Al Shahade, who was working on a documentary film, and cameraman Ahmed Al Assam were killed on 28 May while filming an assault by armed forces in the Safsafa district of Homs.

Till now, the Arab states were heavily involved in the economic prosperity of many Arab news organizations. They were able to apply pressure in several ways, most notably through ownership or advertising. An example is Al-Jazeera, which was funded by the Qatar’s royal family, and which avoids any broadcasts critical of Qatar’s royals. A similar example can be found in Egypt, where the Al-Ahram newspaper is the country’s strongest paper in circulation, and was owned by President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.

In the Middle East, pressure on the media is exercised also via the purchase of advertisement, but to a more significant degree than in the West. If not following the directives of the government, publications can suddenly find themselves without their largest client, and be effectively put out of business. An example comes from the United Arab Emirates, where major newspapers might not be owned outright by the regime, but receive heavy government subsidies, and need to honour such generosity, demonstrating respect of it.

The result of this situation isn’t simple at all. As Noam Chomsky states in Manufacturing Consent, “censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered it, forever.” If this stands, the Arab countries need a period of transition from the present state to more democratic regimes; only then journalists will feel free to properly investigate on topics now felt untouchable.

There is hope for this. Nowadays, a mechanism of great impact has been put into motion in the Middle East; in spite of every possible pressure, citizen-reporters send out bits of what is investigative journalism in its most embryonic form. As a result, the mainstream media try to reinvent themselves, because they cannot ignore the value of these forms of news coverage.

As expected, the space in which Arabs reporters seem to be more comfortable to post information as they please is the cyber space. In Egypt this has become a well-known form of factual narrative output, and the government has been watching it for a long time. As a result, bloggers have been arrested, detained, interrogated; their activity in reporting rallies, politics as commented upon on the road, and the actions of the labour movement in Egypt, has become a thorn in the side of the old regime.

Egyptian journalist Hossam el-Hamalawy stated in a video interview, taken by WorldFocus  in 2008, that his career as a journalism-blogger was built by writing about the factual, standing with one foot in cyberspace and the other on the road. Unfortunately, this kind of career in Egypt involved a routine of arrests, questioning and torture. Today, el-Hamalawy is recognized as a prominent journalist, activist and blogger. However, this does not signify a change of major relevance in the way journalists are perceived in his country. As he reports in the article for The Guardian, ‘In Egypt, Mubarak’s repression machine is still alive and well’ (16 May 2012), a mechanism of censorship continues to function in his country.

Another Egyptian journalist, Nora Younis, whose career was launched by her courage as a prominent blogger using new media tools – for which she was awarded the Human Rights First Award in New York (2008) – joined AlMasry AlYoum in the same year. She is currently the head of a qualified multimedia desk team, which works closely with reporters, photographers and caricaturists to bring news to her people in the most informative way. She is monitoring the state of investigative journalism and oversees citizen journalism pages as well, in the understanding that much has to be done to obtain freedom for the media.

The question remains: how long will take to the Arab world to give life to independent investigative journalism? And which shape will it take in the near future?

The matter is pressing, especially as Arab governments continue to control the media through licensing, or not, the right to record events, take pictures, and enter archives. What is more, Arab journalists must often obtain government permits to work, losing them if they get too pushy; and deal with the Arab media charters, introduced in 2008, which consolidated Arab states’ grip on information.

Watching the Arab fight for media freedom gives a great sense of hope to the many Arabs living in Greece. Their vision for a democratic Middle East is mesmerizing, and much can come from it. Hopefully, it will also bring some great pieces of investigative journalism, written by courageous and determined Arab journalists.

Rumors surround and girdle Egypt these days as her Islamist-dominated parliament members are intending to pass a law, legalizing husbands (widowers) in engaging in sexual intercourse with their deceased wives for six hours following her death. This is in a way, they say, enables every husband to bid his last farewell.

The diffusion of such rumors easily reached the minds of people in the west, since the perspective of Islam is based on media coverage, most of which is biased or portrays an unbalanced and negative image of Muslims, and thus, of Islam. Those who are not very much acquainted with Islam started to believe this is based on Islamic doctrine and teachings, which permit such act of disgrace.

Though, one needs to indulge themselves in understanding that this, “Farewell intercourse”, is just a judgment of one specific Islamic scholar. Alarabiya.net reported in 2011 that Zamzami Abdul Bari, a Moroccan Islamist cleric, said that in the name of Islam, men are permitted to have sex with their wives following her death and that the same applies to women. This I would say is a deadly cholera reaching Egypt from Morocco this month especially when in May 2011, the Morocco Board News Service reported that this person is an imposter.

How did this happen? It all began when a columnist for Al Ahram newspaper, Amr Abdul Samea, published an opinion article stating the existence of such draft law, which is being discussed in the Egyptian parliament and that the Egyptians are very active in making their voice heard. As he states, the National Council for Women in Egypt has appealed this and many women are in the street protesting to this outrageous “Farewell Intercourse” law from being enforced. This information was then borrowed by Alarabiya news (English version) and soon was circulated around the world via different social network sites depicted as news. Irresponsible journalism to its core.

One should not forget to mention that Abdul Samea is “a past stalwart supporter of the deposed Hosni Mubarak” while Al Ahram is a state run newspaper, according to Christian Science Monitor report.

The Daily Mail, through its journalist Sarah Carr, stated that all this is a mere rumor and the existence of such draft law is far from true and reality as it all began with one opinion article.

The other part of the controversial law Egypt intends to pass as rumor has it, concerns the legalisation of the minimum age of 14 for girls to be married. This age represents a beginning of adolescence and a time where girls experience many physical and psychological changes as well as intellectual and rational growth. How can an undeveloped girl be a woman and a wife at the same time?

If one supposes that such draft law exists and it should be enforced as it is in the name of Islam, they are fortunately mistaken. For Islam “religion of peace” is based on respect for the dead.

The Christian Science Monitor last week stated strongly “the chances of any such piece of legislation being considered by the Egyptian parliament for a vote is zero”.

Obeying and respecting laws as Socrates did, cannot be pursued today. For laws are being issued or are in the process of being announced yet stand on no essence or value. But, what happens if such law exists and hence will be passed? Should the Egyptians be Socrates and therefore accept and respect this law?

Soon, there will be no daily editions, at least on paper. Weeklies will be strengthened to create cash flows, necessary for news organisations to survive. Of course, structural cuts will have to wait until after the elections, since campaign budgets are rolling since after a Parliament decision, new money was channeled to political parties (and their advertisers and PR specialists)… At the same time, major television stations continue to suffer from a long lasting strategy that favored low quality competition, built upon a star system of well paid tele-personas. This is dead too.

Only 5 years ago, announcements on internet penetration in the country used to be news. Today, broadband connectivity has transformed the news market, allowing a new wave of online investments to take place. However, the crisis has turned online growth to more opportunistic than strategic. Small groups of journalists and prominent media figures are creating websites that remind first generation attempts in foreign mature markets. There is an absolute lack of innovation, even in design and layout arrangements. These ventures reflect the agony of the profession to place itself in the new web advertising market, which is about to take off, as soon as fiscal finances in Greece appear to be stable and entrepreneurial climate starts to improve.

In the last 6 months, around a dozen of ‘major’ news web sites have appeared in the Greek internet market, already causing an inflationary effect in the free news content sector. None of these relies on parameters that could fall under the category of innovation. And this is the main reason why the leading ones are those advertised by mainstream channels, television and billboards. In the first case since their owners are television personas, in the second, because owners can afford it.

The growth of internet news/content market in Greece resembles the chaotic development of private TV stations in the country, 20 years ago. This time, however, the chaotic approach is not due to the rebellious nature of the new media. It simply lacks strategy, confusing readers and advertisers. These things are about to change…

Dr. Demetris Kamaras is the Editor of AlYunaniya.

As the doors to freedom and democracy swing open in the wake of the Syrian Uprising, citizen journalists have taken smartphones in their hands, Tweeted about protests, and journalists followed their prerogative. “In repressive regimes, journalism has become a form of activism,” said Courtney Radsch, a former reporter with al Arabiya who is now programme manager for the Global Freedom of Expression Campaign at Freedom House.

After decades of media oppression, Syrian journalists inside Syria and in exile have gathered to announce the establishment of the Syrian Journalists Association (SJA) on February 20. “The establishment of the Syrian Journalists Union as a professional and independent union has been undertaken as a response to the revolution of freedom and honor that started last year according to Nouri AL Jarrah in an interview with Reuters.  He describes it as an act in solidarity with the Syrian people “taking part in the revolution against the oppressive regime.” The founding statement of the union criticized the existing journalist union, describing it as “a bureaucratic organization aiming to control the workers in the media field and pushing them under the control and service of the regime… siding with the oppression the regime continues for the peaceful demonstrations.” The new union criticized the “negative role of the existing journalist union and its silence against the ban of satellite channels from entering Syria, the oppression of journalists, and the extreme difficulty of carrying out their job under such circumstances.”

In Syria, the media is primarily owned and controlled by the government and the ruling Baath party, which assumed power in 1963. Over two hundred websites are banned by the regime for everyone, but a closed tight circle of the ruling elite. Criticism of the president and his family is not allowed, journalists practice self-censorship, and foreign reporters rarely get accreditation.  Though there have been developments in Syrian press freedom since Bashar al-Assad became president in 2000, the state continues to use the unending state of emergency law, suppressing freedom of expression and free access to information, to arrest media workers. Journalists and political activists risk arrest at any time for virtually any reason and are. According to the annual census by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) annual census of imprisoned journalists, Syria ranks as one of the world’s top jailers with 8 Syrian journalists behind bars with Iran being first.